Ghosts of Heroes
by Ryo-Wolf
Summary: Ranma, Ryoga, and Mousse left to china in search of a cure. After 5 years, they still haven't come back. oneshot


Ghosts of Heroes  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing! Ranma ½ and the characters within belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and a bunch of other people.  
  
Note: The Cure for the Common Writer's Block is always a one-shot in my book. Don't expect this to be continued or explained. If you can't understand it, then I guess it sucks to be you.  
  
  
  
Akane Tendo was sitting in a library with a notebook in front of her and a huge textbook next to her. She was currently studying for a rather large test she was having in Chinese class, she had signed up for the class when she began college so that when she went to China, she could interact with the locals.  
  
"I still can't believe they're gone…" Akane stopped writing and sat up straight when a chill ran down her spine. The room had suddenly gotten considerably colder and she felt like someone was staring at her. Akane quickly turned around, but saw no one else in the Library. She checked her watch and noticed it was nearly 2:00 AM, and began gathering her things.  
  
"It's getting late, I'm probably just imagining things." The Tendo girl began heading towards the library exit when the lights began to flicker and the room got even colder, she could now see her breath and the feeling that someone was watching her grew larger.  
  
"Who's there!" Akane shouted as she turned, she still saw no one. Fear began to flow through Akane's body as she grabbed her things and began to run out of the room, she got to the door and touched the knob before pulling it back in pain. It was freezing!  
  
"Ice….."  
  
"Who said that?!" Akane spun around and faced the empty library: she was completely terrified and could barely prevent her voice from breaking.  
  
"Pure…..Ice…." The voice was low and barely above a whisper, and seemed to come from everywhere at once. Akane began to shake as the fear and cold got to her. That was when she noticed a dim, bluish light coming from the far corner of the library.  
  
"Souls….without bodies…." The voice was more localized now, and also came from the light. Akane slowly approached the light, noticing that the closer she got, the colder it got. The lights completely died just then, and the only light in the room was coming from the single shelf.  
  
"Torture…." The voice was louder now that she was closer, and Akane could swear she recognized it, put couldn't place it. The bookshelves around her actually had ice forming on them as she approached the light.  
  
"Torture I deserve…." Akane neared, the voice seemed so familiar, and yet so wrong at the same time, she was almost at the light, and she could see someone at its center.  
  
"Their lives….Are gone." Akane was practically kicking herself trying to figure out whose voice it was. She was practically next to the light now, and could tell it was coming from a person standing in front of the bookshelves. He was staring at their titles, as if he were trying to find the right one.  
  
"It's my fault.." Akane gasped as she suddenly realized whose voice it was, the man turned to her at the sound and her blood ran cold, and not just because of the pure cold aura emitting from his body.  
  
"R..Ranma!?" Akane stared in pure amazement, the boy before her and vanished 5 years ago! But there was something off about him, even though he was facing her, his hair was blocking her view of his eyes. His skin was very pale, and he was still wearing the same clothes he had been since that fateful day….  
  
"That name….Once was mine…..The battle at the volcano…..I could have saved them…..I could have, but didn't……I was a coward….They died…..I survived….Within the ice I sealed myself…..to protect me from the heat……they burned…..I did not…..Ranma Saotome is no longer my name…..I lost it with the ice…..The ice I've banished myself to…..to pay for my crime….Ranma is no more……I am nothing but….A specter of flowing ice." When he finished he looked straight at Akane, and she got a good look at his eyes. They had no color, no life, they were simply white orbs of nothingness within his emotionless face.  
  
"A specter, of ice that flows." With that he disappeared, and the temperature returned to normal, the lights switched back on, and everything went back to the way it was, as if nothing had happened. Akane simply stood there with shock clear on her face, before sinking to her knees and staring at the spot Ranma had been standing only seconds ago. The only proof he was ever there was the water being soaked into the carpeting, from where the ice was.  
  
"Ranma…" Akane just sat there in the empty library, looking at the spot he had been standing, and she didn't move, until the sun had shown and the librarian returned, at which point she stood, and left, without a word.  
  
The End  
  
(Author's Notes)  
  
Makes no sense, but so what? It served its purpose, and that's all that matters. Don't try and make sense of it, you'll just strain your brain for no reason.  
  
  
  
Ryo-Wolf 


End file.
